


Terminal

by starsinger



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Major character death - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-09
Updated: 2014-01-09
Packaged: 2018-01-08 02:09:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1127142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starsinger/pseuds/starsinger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>McCoy went with Sulu and Chekov to the USS Excelsior after Jim’s death. During the physicals, he discovers he has a terminal illness. He decides to request to return home to his daughter before he dies and joins his best friend. Don’t own them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Well, this is ironic,” McCoy muttered.

“You’re going to have to tell him,” Chapel told him, tears in her eyes.

“I know,” he sighed. “Dr. McCoy to Captain Sulu.”

“Sulu here, Doctor,” Sulu’s voice sounded through the comm.

“I need you to come down here before you review crew physicals,” McCoy said. Within minutes Sulu was in Sickbay. “Sulu…Hikaru, I have some bad news.”

“What is it?” Sulu asked apprehensively. Sulu had cleared his physical just hours before.

“It’s me, Hikaru, I have a terminal illness. I have, maybe, a year before…before I…” McCoy’s voice trailed off, unable to complete the sentence.

Sulu looked at him before opening his own comm, “Chekov, plot a course back to Earth, and inform Starfleet that we need and new CMO.” He looked back at McCoy, “You have a daughter, so do I. I know, if I were in your shoes, I’d want to spend my remaining time with Demora. Oh, if you’re taking messages to relay to Jim, tell him we miss him.”

McCoy cracked a smile as he called his family. His mother was devastated, she’d outlived her husband, and now that she was going to outlive her son did not sit well. Jocelyn, tears in her eyes, promised to meet him at the house when he returned. What Leonard didn’t know was that Joce had given his mother temporary custody of Joanna so she could spend as much time as possible with her father.

Chekov made sure he got home. He wasn’t being discharged from Starfleet, this was to ensure that Joanna would get the maximum amount of benefits possible. He was simply listed as planetside as consultant. Once home, another physician confirmed the diagnosis and gave him drugs to combat the pain. “You’ll get more and more tired, and then the pain will increase. Spend your time with your family.”

The hardest part was telling Joanna. She was old enough to understand what was happening. Hannah brushed her fingers over Joanna’s head as the little girl had curled into a ball crying in her father’s lap. Leonard simply rocked back and forth, crooning softly to her. “Jo, you know what? Your Mom is letting you stay here with us. She wants you to stay with your father.”

“She’s not dying?” Jo asked.

Hannah answered, “No, sweetheart, she’s fine. We just don’t know how much time your Daddy has, and she doesn’t want you to miss out on it.” Jo’s little face scrunched up and nodded.

At first, it was fun to help take care of her father. McCoy’s body, as predicted, deteriorated, but the pain was managed as his body fought itself. After six months the old crew came to pay their respects. Leonard was bedridden, “This is not taking as long as I thought it would.” McCoy told Uhura. “Do me a favor, will ya? Look after Jo? I won’t be there to watch her graduate, or walk her down the aisle.” Uhura cried, unable to stand what this was doing to another friend. In a way, she understood, Leonard really had no will left to live. Jo was his only regret.

It was peaceful, his passing. His mother and daughter had joined him in bed that night, and he simply went to sleep and never woke up. Jo cried inconsolably when they awoke and discovered he’d gone. Hannah wasn’t much better, but she definitely heard Jo whisper in her father’s ear, “Tell Uncle Jim that I love him too.”

* * *

 

Leonard awoke somewhere different. He wasn’t at home in bed, and he was no longer too weak to get out of bed. “Need a hand up?” a question came from above him. He found himself looking at Jim. At long last his best friend stood beside him.

“I have lots of messages for you,” McCoy told him reaching up to grasp his friend’s hand. He rose to his feet and looked around. It looked a lot like San Francisco. “Is this heaven?”

“I hope so, I’d hate to see what heaven looked like if this was hell,” Jim said with a laugh. McCoy wavered, “Easy, Bones, it’ll take you a while to adjust to this. What did the crew tell you?” Jim asked curiously.

“Give ‘em hell,” Bones said with a laugh. “Sulu took me home, Jo stayed with me and Mom,” Bones said. “Joce, she let me have as much time as I could with Jo. She told me to tell you that she loves you.”

“Jo or Joce?” Jim asked with a laugh.

Bones cuffed his ear, “Jo, of course. Now what?”

“Let’s go home. Remember that home I bought on the bay before we left for Nibiru. It’s still mine, and I’d like you to stay there, if you’d like.”

Leonard looked at Jim, “Yeah, I’d like that. Who else is here?”

Jim chuckled, “Pike, I met your dad, by the way. I could see where you got your grumpiness, you didn’t get it from your Mom.”

“Did you meet your Dad?” Bones asked.

“Yeah,” Jim replied. “They want to see us tonight for dinner,” Jim said.

“They knew I was coming?” Bones asked.

“Bones, you’ve been ill a long time. It was just a matter of time,” Jim replied. “Bones, I’m sorry. You know I had to do it.”

McCoy stopped and wrapped his arms around Jim’s neck in a big hug, “I know, Jim. I just wish…”

“I wasn’t so clueless that I ignored how you felt about me?” Jim asked. McCoy blushed, unable to say any more words. Jim cupped his cheeks and kissed him, “I don’t want you to be a houseguest, Bones.”

McCoy kissed him back, “Neither do I, Jim. Neither do I.”


	2. Should We Be Worried?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They may be dead, but any time Bones and Jim have their heads together and evil grins on their faces, people worry. Don’t own them.

“Should we be worried?” Pike asked George Kirk, looking at his offspring.

David McCoy looked down at his own son, “I would be.”

The three were in a café in San Francisco overlooking the bay. Jim and Bones were nearby talking, and Chris, honestly, wouldn’t have been worried if it hadn’t been for the identical looks on their faces. He’d seen that look before, just before those two got in a heap of trouble at the Academy. George sighed, “No, they’re plotting a party. Another member of their crew is due in soon.”

“Who?” Chris asked waspishly. There were an awful lot of young people coming in, and he didn’t like that something was causing that much upheaval in the living world. The young should not be dying before their parents.

George pulled out the piece of paper he’d received earlier that day, “Montgomery Scott. The ship he’s aboard will take a heavy hit during fighting and he won’t survive.”

“The Federation’s at war?” Pike asked.

“With the Klingons,” George replied. David remained silent, this was not what he wanted to hear either. So many parents would be mourning the loss of their children now, and bewildered Starfleet personnel were being ushered through the various places of the hinterlands. “Is anyone else we know due in soon?”

“I haven’t heard anything,” Chris replied. “Those two will get Monty settled if anyone can.” The other two nodded.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Right on schedule Scotty appeared, he didn’t expect to find himself in San Francisco, though. He’d have liked to return to Scotland. He sighed wondering what to do next. He looked up to find two men standing in front of him, “Jim! Leonard, it is good to see you!”

“You too, Scotty,” Jim replied softly. “Come on, you’ll be spending a few days here before you decide where to settle yourself.”

“I could go back to Scotland?” he asked.

“Why not?” Leonard replied, “I go back to Georgia.” They smiled fondly at each other.

Jim cleared his throat, “Meanwhile, you’re more than welcome to stay with us. There are a few people who are anxious to see you.” Jim saw the wistful expression in his face, “Yes, Irene is here too.” Irene, Scotty’s mother, had died a year before her son was marooned on Delta Vega. “So, how’s the war going?”

“Oddly enough, we’re beginning to turn the tide against the Klingons. The Romulans have sided with the Federation. Several Klingon warbirds went on a rampage through Romulan territory and attacked several colonies. The Romulans weren’t going to stand for that,” Scotty sighed. “Just wish I could have seen the end to the war, though.”

“It’s good to see you, though, Scotty,” Leonard replied. “Come on, we’ve got a party for you tonight. You can catch up with friends.” Scotty nodded, the problem was, with the exception of his mother, the only two he really wanted to catch up with were right here. He couldn’t help but bitterly wonder if another friend would come through next due to this damnable war.


End file.
